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Your favorite 4-H activity/club-focus??


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Please share what has worked and what your group really enjoyed.

 

 

I am seriously considering doing 4-H instead of scouting. I'd have 4-5 kids myself and might get 5-7 kids in similar ages. I am open to suggestions for ideas for specific activities etc. The kids do not have a specific focus at this point; their mothers jkust want the kids to get together within a structured environment.

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DD has been asking about joining 4H. I know nothing about it except when I was kid and my cousins in Nebraska were involved and raising a cow, etc.

I guess I keep thinking "now where do I have room to raise a cow" :D

I would love to hear from anyone who does 4H? How do you find a group/club or whatever it is called? Thanks!

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Definitely check with your local extension office. Our's offers may workshops and other resources which the kids have enjoyed. Projects my kids have done include model rocketry, visual arts, creative arts, cake decorating, electricity, air rifle, wildlife, sewing, entomology...the list goes on. Some counties have other contests such as creative cooks and fashion revue, too.

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I'm a 4H advisor for a homeschool 4H club. As others have mentioned, 4H can be somewhat different from state to state. However, I think all states offer the basic projects, which do vary quite a bit these days. One of our members took an insect project while his brother took one on aerospace aviation. His other brother took one on creative writing. And they also have the option of doing a self-determined project on a subject not covered by the dozens of standard offerings.

 

However, the emphasis on 4H is not necessarily the project. It is youth development. So 4H often includes helping the kids learn public speaking skills, how to conduct meetings, community service projects, etc. The projects are the primary vehicle for helping the kids to learn. We tried scouts but were not too thrilled with the troops in our area. We also tried a couple of other 4H clubs before we started this one. It can take a little while to find the right fit.

 

One of our main areas of focus is to provide opportunities which are not easily done at home, such as speaking before the group, team activities, brown bag lunches, etc. It has become a very nice social organization for the kids, almost all of the mothers stay all of the time and we also have several dads who will bring the kids and stay for the meetings. I am really enjoying the group and dd is also.

 

Feel free to pm me if you have specific questions.

 

Tomorrow we will be going to a festival to work with the Lion's Club to raise funds to buy a guide dog for a local blind person. The 4H kids will be doing dog demonstrations, holding various pet contests, have a quilt raffle, and selling doggie ice cream. They have had the opportunity to go on tv to promote the event, talk to local business owners about donations, they will write thank you notes, and make plans for improving things for next year. I am proud that my 9yo gets to participate as fully in all this as she has been. She has truly learned a lot and gotten a great deal of "youth development" from this event.

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Guest china mountain mom

My 11 year old son has been involved in 4-H for the past 3 years. We were surprised to learn about all the options available in 4-H. My son has been involved in woodworking (making a walking stick and carving out a planter), photography, gardening (herb garden, annuals, perennials) cooking (cookies, scones), art (ceramics, painting), computer software presentation (making a website for a fictitious restaurant), forestry (forestry specimens), and crocheting.

 

He saw his projects displayed at our county fair yesterday. He earned lots of ribbons and awards. Our county pays money for each ribbon won. Five of his projects will go to our state fair next month to compete.My son is thrilled with all his accomplishments. Last week was a tad stressful when he was completing some of his projects and the paperwork required for fair entry. He's beginning to learn the ups and downs of projects and life. What a wonderful life lesson!

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Thanks for all the input.

 

There is one thing which will be tricky (or not) which is that while I live on the border to one state then I want to register this 4-H club in the more diverse state over. I'll of course discuss this with the extension office in state two. We had a bad experience in our own state (which we just moved to and plan to move away from, back to state 2 asap) with the 4-H which put us off 4-H as a matter of fact. Now that we have a small group of pals then I feel good about re-joining 4-H but at the other side of the border...

 

I am thinking of having the club just be a broad one with different projects during the year and definitely with kids participating in extension events as they choose. I'd love to hear more about the "Horseless Horse" project, though...

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